According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), the compounds in the caramel coloring in many soft drinks has been shown to cause lung, liver, and thyroid cancer in lab mice and rats. Because of these findings, the CSPI has called on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban the use of caramel coloring. The guilty ingredients are 2-methylimidazole (2-MEI) and 4-methylimidazole (4-MEI). These compounds form when sugar is mixed with ammonia and sulfites. It may not effect the flavor, but it creates the caramel, or brown color.

This year the state of California determined that 4-MEI qualified as a carcinogen. Because of this ruling, companies using that coloring compound would be required to print cancer warnings on their packages or reformulate their products. Further, the CSPI said their recent lab studies found that the 4-MEI levels in many 12-ounce sodas exceeded the 29 microgram limit set by California law.

“The body of science about 4-MEI in foods or beverages does not support the erroneous allegations that CSPI would like the public to believe,” said a Coca-Cola representative. “The 4-MEI levels in our products pose no health or safety risks.”

Regardless of the debate, Coca-Cola has decided to change its manufacturing process rather than print cancer warnings on their drinks.

Douglas Karas is a spokesman for the FDA and noted that a human would have to consume more than a thousand cans of soda a day in order to reach doses that equaled those administered to the lab animals. Those incredibly high doses were used to show a link between the coloring compound and cancer.

None of these issues deal with real food, so it seems hard to pick sides. However, if you know any Coke addicts, you know this is not a light hearted subject. Hopefully the change doesn’t effect the taste or we’ll have riot on our hands.

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(Page 1 of 1, 2 total comments)

Don

Is there anything that doesn't cause cancer in CA.?

posted Mar 20th, 2012 1:46 pm

Hahna

It is so so typical that the title of this article could have read the exact opposite, "Coca cola adds cancer warning rather than change their formula" and the end result would have been the same for the affect it tries to cause the company. Damned if you do, damned if you don't in the world today. I personally commend Coke for just taking away the perceived risk.

posted Mar 19th, 2012 5:08 pm

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